Breadcrumb

Student combines engineering and teaching to share with future generations of STEM students

Student combines engineering and teaching to share with future generations of STEM students

Thursday, December 15, 2016

Taylor Badeau selected the degree so he could pass on real world skills and concepts to students in the classroom and to answer the perennial student question, "Why do I need to know this?"

Meet Taylor Badeau

Engineering Education Student

Taylor Badeau selected the degree so he could pass on real world skills and concepts to students in the classroom. He appreciated being able to point to practical applications that demonstrate the science and engineering concepts that students were learning. Taylor's goal was to be able to answer the perennial student question, "Why do I need to know this?"

During his Project-Based Instruction capstone course, Taylor brought a STEM engineering project into the classroom, challenging students to design and develop a sustainable housing model. Hands-on, interactive learning through inquiry, analysis, and actual building activities mean his lessons were engaging and modeling important STEM education concepts and skills.

Of his own education, Taylor notes that going through the senior engineering capstone seminar process gave him a strong understanding of how engineering and technology help solve real-world problems.

Read some specific thoughts from Taylor on his educational journey.

Why did you pick this degree? This degree is so incredibly valuable because it has helped me develop a healthy combination of science, math and engineering skills that I will be able to share with our future generations of STEM students.

What does the degree mean to you? The degree is important to me because it allows me to pursue my two passions: engineering and teaching.

Why is this degree different? The degree is different because it allows us, as future teachers, to focus on the practical application of what we will be teaching in STEM.

What is your ultimate career goal? My ultimate career goal is to become an administrator in secondary education or to become a college professor.

How will this degree help you achieve your career goals? This degree will help me achieve my career goals in that the undergraduate courses will prepare me for my master's degree in engineering or education.

How did exposure to teaching at the beginning of your degree program help you in your decision to become a teacher? Teaching early on in the program simply confirmed for me early on that I enjoyed teaching students.

Share a recent classroom experience. My most recent classroom experience was in PBI (project based instruction) at Jenkins Middle School where the students were building sustainable housing models. At the end of the unit, we held a Socratic seminar (a critical thinking discussion and analysis) and it was just amazing to watch students intelligently discuss sustainable housing and also talk about how much they loved the project. It’s moments like this that make me happy I will be a teacher.

Share about the inquiry method model of education. The inquiry based model of education essentially boils down to the students owning their learning process and being more a part of their education.

What does this degree mean for the future? I hope that this degree will mean that we have teachers who are more adept at teaching practical skills like critical thinking and who can excite future students to become engineers, programmers, or any other technical profession.

Do you feel supported in your studies? What support services have you utilized? Yes, I absolutely feel supported in my studies in the Engineering Education. Between the Director, UCCSTeach Coordinator, and my Engineering Advisor, there is a tremendous amount of support in planning your classes. Also, at UCCS in general, there is a ton of support in classes between the Math center, pass classes, and office hours.

What is your degree focus? My degree focus is mechanical engineering because I like to learn about the functionality of objects.

What are some of the engineering and technical courses or projects that stood out for you? My favorite engineering course was materials engineering because the content was awesome, the lab was amazing, and I had an incredible professor. The Senior Design Project is also cool, but a ton of work.